Retire or Bum
 

Got a twist on the "been outta the cockpit a while."

I was med DQ'd about three years ago but stayed on active duty because I was close to retirement. Now it turns out it was a bogus diagnosis, but I'm 15 months away from retirement.

The math says waking up as a retiree gets as much in my pocket as bumming in a guard or reserve flying gig.

Would it be better to just retire, fly regional and push for the majors or join a guard/reserve unit while flying regionals then apply for the majors?

I'm a little over 1800TT with close to 1000PIC.


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If your goal is to get to the majors, this is exactly what I would do. My guess is you may not spend much time at the regional before being picked up my a major. Collecting the check of the month, plus Tricare and your regional pay won't be a bad way to go. You'll learn the 121 world and you'll get your currency back in check. Update your app monthly and enjoy the ride. Highly recommend NOT commuting to any gig. Find regional that allows you to be home based. Also, do forget to look at the charter/cargo outfits out there (Atlas, Kalitta, etc...).

Being so close to a retirement it may be tough to get a squadron to pick you up. You'll require a TX or full training course and could bail pretty much at any time. Most squadrons have a revolving door or current/qualified, IPs/patches, that are senior Captains or junior Majors who will hopefully be around for a while.

Plus, to be honest, things are getting worse, not better in the ANG/Reserves. Balancing both gigs is a pain...my QOL would increase 10-fold if I were to leave the Guard. Right now I still enjoy the flying but am getting sick of the BS...plus I still have my UPT ADSC. You have served more than enough, enjoy your retirement.

Best of luck in whatever path you choose and thank you for your service!

I would also talk to the JAG.

I would think you have a shot at the Board for Correction of Military Records (I think that's what it is called).

They overturned a bogus ADSC that was assigned to me, and many other folk.

You may have missed out on Flight Pay and/or promotion opportunities. Could be some money in it.

Worth a look.

Thanks for the replies...

I'll do some research on commuting to a regional. I've heard "don't do it" but I don't want to move to a regional base if I'm only gonna be there for 9 months.

With only 15 months left, I would stick it out and retire

I would retire, hit the Aero Club/local FBO to get re-current, and send those apps to the regionals.

Don't look back. Civilian life after mil retirement is good.

Regarding moving to your junior base at a regional, I wrote this in another thread:

https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/m...ml#post2293104
If you're at a regional to get recurrent, it is going to be a short stay (12-24 months), so don't uproot mom-n-the-kids for what is ultimately a "professional deployment". A deployment you get to come home every couple of days while you're on.

Instead, as you separate, my recommendation is to settle the family where you (they) want to live long term, and choose a regional with the easiest commute from there.

The objective in leaving the .mil is to ease the pain on you and your family. In my experience, part of that pain was the constant moving, the inability for the family to make friends and nest where you were living. Flying for a regional, for most of us reading this thread in the military sub-forum, is a short-term situation, and we personally are going to have to embrace the suck...but our families don't have to embrace that same suck unless we choose to drag them with us.

I found that it made the transition much easier with the family comfortably bedded down and learning how to be civilians again where they wanted to be, making neighborhood friends they didn't know they were going to move away from in 3 years, and unpacking boxes that didn't have to be retained for the next upcoming move. You're going to be away from home 15-ish nights per month on layovers anyhow, so might as well ensure the people who are going to be at home all 30 nights per month are comfortable and happy.

Yes, commuting can suck, but it is a manageable inconvenience. For most of us, any of the regionals will fill the requirement to get recurrent and a trip through a 121 training cycle to make our resumes more shiny. There is plenty of variation in junior domiciles at the various regionals -- certainly enough to choose one that has a 1-leg, relatively easy commute from just about any part of the country you want to live (within reason, of course). So, pick a regional to work at which will make your lifestyle at that chosen location the most liveable.

Later on down the road, with a career job at a career airline, it may be worth moving, but in my opinion moving your family for a short stint at a regional is like getting a tattoo of your high school girlfriend's name. Probably seems like a good idea at the time, but you'll look back with some perspective very shortly and see that it probably wasn't a great choice.

Retire or Bum
 

Thanks again. Hacker, I've been reading you for a long time, including BO.net. I did your post somewhere else same topic. Thanks for your continued sage advice.


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Poor wording on my part. I did not mean to insinuate that you should move to a regional base, but rather explore regionals that may allow you to be home based where you wish to live. I most certainly would NOT move for a regional. Like Hacker said though, I would highly consider moving for a major. Having left one major for another to avoid a lifetime of commuting, I can assure you not commuting is like an entirely different job!

Best of luck!

You can probably start terminal leave in 12 months if you are retiring in 15. Start the application now if you haven't done so. They are worse than an SF86. Also remember that your retirement PCS move benefit is still good for 12 months POST-retirement so you have quite a bit of flexibility during that year when you get hired.

I'm with Hacker on this. You can stand on your head in a bucket of feces for 18 months, you can definitely manage commuting for 18 months. I've only ever known commuting, so yeah it's probably better not to, but it doesn't bother me at all.

Military guys seem to be the biggest anti commuter group out there. I suspect because they got used to moving around from assignment to assignment to places they didn't choose to live. They figure the family doesn't mind (well, they probably do mind).

Personally, that's what drove me nuts about the job and why I chose a place to live regardless of who hired me (my hometown of Denver). That's one of many great things about the job, you can finally live where you want!